Crystal Release: Birth Of The Jade Emperor
by curve-goddess
Summary: Naruto gets the help he needs in the academy early in life, follow him as he's armed with a true team and the element crystal to create the path of his future. Slash ShinoxNarutoxKimimaro possible OMC   slash, yaoi


Crystal Release: Birth of the Jade Emperor

please** read **and** review!**

**BETA READER: fulofhyperness**

**Disclaimer- Please, if I owned Naruto he would have a cool bloodline, be a true Uzumaki and it would be every yaoi fangirl's dream.**

_Chapter 1: The Chance of his Lifetime_

Iruka was currently sitting at his desk, taking a break from grading some of his most promising student's papers while sneaking a saucer of sake. His classroom was devoid of occupants because of the fact that it was currently lunch. Unlike his peers who liked to hang out in the lounge during this time of day, Iruka liked to catch up on grading his student's homework after he ate his lunch to help them improve and to use positive reinforcement. The scarred Chunin's thoughts wandered onto one particular red-headed student: Naruto Uzumaki. Out of all of the students in his class, Iruka felt the most drawn to the resident prankster of the class. Iruka supposed that he was drawn to Naruto because both of them were orphans and he couldn't help but feel protective of the boy he secretly started to see as his son.

However in Iruka's mind, Naruto's life was worse than his own had been growing up. Unlike Iruka, Naruto had to deal with the stigma of being a demon container and in all honestly he couldn't help but be resentful to the village for treating Naruto as if he was Orochimaru. Although the attacks against his person had stopped some years ago, Naruto still had to deal with being shunned by practically the entire village; although he would never admit it, he knew that the villagers only let him buy bright colors so he would die on the field. Iruka didn't want to imagine trying to grow up as alone as the son of his heart. Naruto's situation altogether was a fate that Iruka wouldn't wish on his worst enemy and defiantly not a kid like Naruto. The sad thing was there had been countless of people that had suffered the same fate, the fate of the Jinchuuriki.

Propping his head up with his hand, Iruka rubbed away the tears that had started to form and thought about Naruto's academic situation. Naruto had to be the WORST student that Iruka had ever tried to teach. The boy was constantly scraping by in the more intellectual parts of the academy's curriculum, however when you looked at his records of when he first started it implied that he was in the top five. As for his ninja skills, Naruto was only average at best at Taijutsu, slightly below average at Ninjutsu, and his skill was none existent in Genjutsu. Though he did seem to have a rare understanding of Fuinjutsu, it still put him at the bottom of the barrel. To make the whole matter worse in Iruka's opinion, Naruto was loud and like to spend a good deal of his time pulling pranks trying to gain others approval and attention. While some of Naruto's pranking skills could be translated into good trap making skills, it wasn't helping Naruto in the areas that he needed it and nobody was stepping up to help.

Sitting back in his chair, Iruka thought about what he could do to help out his (although he wouldn't admit it unless Naruto wanted him to) son/little brother. Naruto didn't have the benefit of a ninja clan to help oversee his training or to go give him a slight edge over the non-ninja clan students. Unlike Sakura Haruno, who was a seed ninja and had no ninjas in the family, Naruto didn't take to book work. Actually, Naruto found it hard to stay still for long periods of time and without the help of a tutor...

Iruka's eyes suddenly lit up as that last thought of his and prayed to Kami for causing the flash of inspiration to occur. A small smile started to form on Iruka's face as he thought over his sudden plan. The idea was genius in its own right and Iruka was surprised that no one had tried it with Naruto before. Sadly, Iruka realized that the reason no one had tried it was because most people didn't care enough to help Naruto out. With the small amount of people that cared about Naruto, the chances of someone else thinking of this plan was quite small. Iruka also realized that Naruto would have to be approached in a certain manner in order for this plan to work. However, Iruka was sure he could help Naruto pull the boy's grades up and maybe even cut down on the number of pranks that were pulled in class.

Iruka remembered when he first saw the redhead when he first joined the academy and how nervous he was as he looked around the class looking for someone to sit next to. Iruka couldn't help but frown as he remembered that most of the rumors were spread by the women of the village ranting that his looks proved that he was the Kyuubi reincarnated; well the blood red hair, pale skin and violet eyes didn't help things, but he was still just a child! Yes, he would tutor Uzumaki Naruto, and make him into the best ninja Konoha had seen since the 4th Hokage and make the villagers see his worth.

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><p>Naruto walked the long way to the academy trying to hold off entering for as long as possible, while this wasn't the first time he had done this it was the first time he wasn't looking forward to going. He spent his lunch trying to find the money to buy a meal only to go hungry and spend his lunch break alone again.<p>

He entered the building while trying to act as if the looks and the whispered words of hatred didn't affect him in the slightest, shoulders back, head held high and a grin that could put the Nibi to shame.

"SORRY I'M LATE IRUKA-SENSEI!" he shouted at his friend and teacher, much to the man's dismay.

"Naruto you're just in time so take your seat and SHUT UP!" Iruka screeched as a vein bulged in his forehead. Naruto couldn't help but give a blinding grin as he made his way over to Shino who greeted him with only slight nod and took his seat.

"Today, class, we will be learning the theory of the henge." Iruka announced to the class and ignored the answering groan of almost physical pain.

Naruto could only look at his only friend in the academy except Iruka. "Well it seems like it's gonna be a long day, huh Shino." Naruto said with a small eye smile.

"It would seem so Uzumaki-san." he replied in his usual stoic voice.

During the three hours, which sounded like verbal dribble to him, he sat and contemplated what his would be like, life as it wasn't going to be a good thing. Best case scenario, if he made it through the academy he would probably be the dobe and struggle through his ninja career and would be lucky if he made Chunin by the time he was twenty. It all seemed like he would live the life of a low class ninja his whole life. There was a high chance that he wouldn't pass thi-! Naruto jumped as he felt something hard hit head looking up only to see it was his sensei with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"Gomen nasai sensei, i'm just a bit tired." Naruto grinned and rubbed his head when he saw Iruka's expression soften.

"Naruto you still have to come for a detention during your lunch break." Naruto couldn't help but fell a bit guilty as his only friend let out a sigh that seemed to age him.

Naruto was just about to reply when he was interrupted by Kiba. "Yeah dobe, are you too stupid to understand that dumb people get punished?" Naruto was about to reply only to hear the laughter from his fellow classmates.

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><p>"Do you know why you're here Naruto?" Iruka said trying to reassure the young redhead, to say the lesson hadn't ended on a good note was a major understatement, and the fact that Naruto kept a smile during the whole thing worried him a bit.<p>

"Ano... because I didn't pay attention to you?" Iruka couldn't help but sigh as Naruto turned his sixty watt smile on him.

"Naruto you're extremely behind your classmates, the only thing I can think to help you is to tutor you." Watching the expression flash over his face was always something that surprised him, in all the years of knowing Naruto it still surprised him that Naruto had so much control over his emotions. "If you are willing, I can tutor you for half an hour before class every day and an hour after the academy finishes." he said glad that Naruto didn't seem as guarded.

"Iruka-san will this help me be better? Will it make me a good ninja?" came the almost mumbled question.

"Yes Naruto it will help develop you into a fine ninja." He couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride as he watched the answer he desperately wanted to hear.

"Yes, please help me Iruka-kun." Hearing this Iruka took out a sheet of paper and handed it over to Naruto who took it with a look of confusion.

"All you need to do is mold a bit of chakra into the paper like when you practice hand seals, this will help me teach you better." he explained calmly waiting for him to follow the instruction.

"Like this?" watching as Naruto got a look of concentration as the paper glowed a pale blue only to become a thin sheet of a reflective pink material.

Taking it from the boy, Iruka looked at the facets. "Crystal..."

A.N: i have to say thank you to my new awesome beta reader fulofhyperness, she will also be my beta reader for Tsunade's Apprentice! my other stories will be updated soon so please review so i know which stories to update!

please READ and REVIEW!


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